


what nightmares fear

by cougarlips



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: (keyblade war that is), Aftermath of Possession, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Domestic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Post-War, kairi is a bamf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 13:10:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12433554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cougarlips/pseuds/cougarlips
Summary: It was hard to go back when they’d all done so much, seen wonders beyond their wildest dreams. It was welcome – a life of sun-filled peace, of water crashing against the shore and their worst fears being a poor haul from the docks – but hard all the same.





	what nightmares fear

**Author's Note:**

> this is a post-2nd keyblade war, post-kh3 fic where everyone's safe, the worlds are safe, everyone in sora's heart hotel has vacated the premises and they're all happy and safe and ALIVE and back where they belong

All was well.

That’s what King Mickey told them: All was well. They could all go home and live their lives. Terra, Ventus, and Aqua returned to the newly restored Land of Departure; Lea, Roxas, and Xion made their ways back to Twilight Town. The Radiant Garden Restoration Committee disbanded after the world restored itself entirely (along with the aid of Merlin’s magic). And Sora, Riku, and Kairi bade farewell to their friends before finally,  _finally_ going back to their islands.

It was hard to go back when they’d all done so much, seen wonders beyond their wildest dreams. It was  _welcome_ – a life of sun-filled peace, of water crashing against the shore and their worst fears being a poor haul from the docks – but hard all the same.

It felt like nothing had changed, as if time simply stopped in their absence. They were older, wiser, battle-hardened in ways they couldn’t explain, but they didn’t have to: no one asked about it. No one questioned them about their mysterious disappearance or their return.

Riku thrived in the relative silence. He was eighteen, an adult, able to live alone and he did. His place was once an abandoned wreck by the shore, but he reveled in the labor of restoring it. When he completed its restoration, their agreement went unsaid that Sora and Kairi would join him when they turned of age.

Kairi adjusted easily back into her life as the major’s daughter, but with her newfound experience as a Princess of Heart she took to it better than any of them expected, even by her father’s standard. From the other princesses – especially Princess Jasmine – Kairi learned more politics than she’d known before, and she used it to her benefit on the islands. Perhaps it wasn’t what she wanted to do  _before_ their world descended into darkness, but it felt right for her to lead in the best way she knew how.

But living back on the islands, Sora struggled. He wasn’t quite smart enough to go into politics like Kairi, but he also wasn’t old enough to live on his own and just be like Riku. He couldn’t just go back to school like nothing had happened and pick right back up, because he effectively stopped all formal education at fourteen years old.

It wouldn’t have been as bad for Sora if he could only rest, but even that was not in his favor. He closed his eyes at night and his thoughts turned to his parents not even missing him. He thought of Riku’s parents not missing Riku, of Kairi’s father not noticing her absence. He felt… empty. His heart void of its longtime occupants, he felt cold and hollow. Not even the sunshine warmed him when he felt himself spiraling.

He closed his eyes to find himself once again face to face with Young Xehanort’s callous expression, to find hawk’s eyes burning into his own. He closed his eyes and felt himself slipping, falling back into darkness.

He often found himself on Riku’s doorstep without consciously realizing he was going there, letting himself inside and basking in the familiar magic, letting it wash over him as he curled up by the arm of Riku’s worn-out couch.

Sora tried to force himself to sleep, figuring being in Riku’s domain, breathing in his scent, resting in his home would soothe his whirling mind, but he never quite could, and so hours passed and he sat there wide awake. When he finally heard Riku begin to shuffle around in his bedroom – perhaps an hour after the sun began shining on the horizon – Sora himself got up and began brewing tea for Riku and coffee for himself, eggs frying in a pan by the time Riku stepped into the kitchen.

“You’re up early,” Riku said every time, taking the tea and sipping it with a sigh. Then he lowered the mug and eyed Sora.

Sora grinned and waved him off. “I’m growing up. Can’t I be an early riser too?” he countered, but he couldn’t hide the bags under his eyes or the sallow tint to his otherwise tanned skin.

No amount of false reassurances could slip past Riku, though, and only moments later he stepped around Sora to turn the stove off behind him. He reached a battle-worn hand up to Sora’s face, brushing his hair out of his eyes and dragged the pad of his thumb across Sora’s cheekbone. Then, without saying a word, he reached down and grabbed Sora’s hand. He pulled Sora into his own room and gestured for him to lay down on the bed. Sora sat but looked at him dubiously.

“I’m not going to sleep, Riku,” he told him. “I can’t.”

“Can’t?” Riku questioned. “Or  _won’t_?”

Sora frowned but allowed Riku to gently push him down. He let Riku cover him with soft blankets, blinking slowly when he let his hands rest on Sora’s arm, the warmth and weight of it grounding Sora’s rocky mind.

“You need to close your eyes, Sora,” Riku reminded him gently when he forced them back open.

After a few seconds of silence Sora finally shook his head, sitting back up despite himself. “I  _can’t_ , Riku. I… I have nightmares every time I do.”

“Nightmares?” he asked. At Sora’s less than enthusiastic response, Riku offered him a smile. “Then I guess it’s good thing you’ve got me, huh?”

Sora looked at him and wanted to smile, but he couldn’t quite muster one. “Yeah?” he asked.

Riku ruffled Sora’s hair. “I’m what nightmares fear, you know.”

Sora snorted at the comment, but a moment later his expression sobered. “What if… what if this is all another trick? What if I fall asleep and Xehanort’s back? What if he wants  _me_ back? I’m not immune to the darkness like you are, Riku. I can’t –”

Riku leaned forward to press a kiss to Sora’s hairline. Still bent forward, he rested their heads together. The words a promise, he said, “If that’s what you’re scared of, then I’ll be right here, okay? I won’t leave your side while you sleep. And if anything  _does_ happen, I’ll be right here to wake you back up.”

After a moment, a tear slipped over Sora’s cheek and leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Riku’s neck. “Thank you,” he mumbled into his skin.

Riku laid him back down, gingerly carding his fingers through Sora’s hair until his eyelids finally slipped shut and stayed shut.

For the first time since their return, Sora felt at peace, like all really  _was_ well.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on tumblr at [@bisoras](https://bisoras.tumblr.com) in case u wanna hmu but like tbh i just miss my boys and kh in general so also hmu if u, too, miss ur boys and kh in general
> 
> comments and crit highly appreciated ;A; 
> 
> #kairi4pres2k46


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